Beside The Dying Fire/Issue 2

“I, I saw someone, holding his wrist, it was bleeding like heck, looked like there was a bite mark on it, I, I saw someone who got infected, and I didn’t even know it” I lean back in my chair and put my hands on my hair “The fuck” I say

“Did he bite or scratch you Ken” Sohti says, his face still the same since when he heard the news.

“No he didn’t, but, what are we going to do, I there truly are living dead roaming the earth as we speak, this school won’t hold them out” I say.

“Ken, this school’s the best thing we got” James says.

“But, I need to find my little brother, I can’t leave him all alone at his elementary” Felix says.

“I need to make sure my big brother and sister are ok, Sohti you understand we can’t stay at this school” I say.

Sohti just stares at the wall for a while, not saying anything, with the same blank expression he’s had, Amy stands up and puts her hand on his shoulder “Mr. Sohti” She says.

He shakes his head, but with the same expression turns to us “My, my wife, she called me before I came to school, she, she said a crazy man had scratched her” He digs his face into his hand, I could see tears falling down from the sides of his hands “oh god, she’s, she’s, oh god” Sohti says.

“Hey, Mr. Sohti, it’s all going to be okay, you won’t have to go to her alone, we’ll go with you” I say, and turn to the rest of the class, they nod yes.

He picks it up, and while wiping tears from his eyes he answers it “Hello” he says.

I hear some mumble coming from the other side of the phone, then Sohti’s face goes into the same blank expression “She’s, She’s” Sohti says, then I hear more mumble from the other side of the phone.

“Okay” Sohti says, then he puts his phone down, he plops into his chair and looks at me.

He grabs his keys again and hands them to me “I think I’ll be staying here longer, take them to wherever they want to go, just bring me back the car” Sohti says, and I see more tears forming in his eyes, that’s when I realize, the conversation he just had was someone telling him his wife had died.

He stands up, straightens out his suit and opens the door “You kids first, we’ll need to be quiet if we want to get out of here” Sohti says.

I walk out of the door, and look around the halls, nothing, I start walking towards the door, then I hear a door open and a security guard walks out of the principal’s office. I quickly hide behind a wall, the rest of my classmates doing the same. I look back around, he’s still there.

“What can we do” Karen asks.

I take my book bag off my back, I put it to the ground, I open a flap and take out a pencil. I look back over the corner, the security guards still there. I quickly chuck the pencil across the other hall, making it land all the way on the other end of the hall. The security guard quickly starts running towards the sound, thinking it could be some student or something.

“Nice thinking, now let’s go” Felix says, we walk towards the door, and I open it, the rest go through it, I close the door and finally look at the parking lot.

There are a couple of people roaming the parking lot, but they don’t look normal, they have greyish skin, and blood all over their mouths.